Sitting on the wharf in Ulverstone, where it's planned the ride will end, Terril admits she has had to ask herself 'what was I thinking' a few times since uttering those words.

The Long Ride 4 Life will ride away from the Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame in Longreach, Queensland, on July 23rd. Four riders, four horses and four dogs will make the trip over 100 days to Ulverstone in Tasmania's North West.

The team for the ride will include two city-slickers, Terril and her husband Andrew, Terril's 76-year-old father Harold, an accomplished and lifelong horseman, and French Wwoofer Anna Hoogeboom who has had a lot of experience working on horseback in Australia.

Along the way they will raise money for the Leukaemia Foundation and for the Royal Flying Doctors Service.

"Andrew was diagnosed six years ago with a very rare form of leukaemia and four years ago he had a stem cell transplant; and my father has been scooped up twice by the Royal Flying Doctors Service after mustering accidents," Terril says.

"We feel very strongly about giving back to the community and thought this was a wonderful opportunity to do that.

"We expect we'll ride away with a little coterie of support riders and we're hoping that when we get to Ulverstone on November 1st, we might also have some riders come and join us. It would be great if we could ride down the main street and then head over to the Ulverstone Show."

There will be a support vehicle and three riders will be on horseback at all times during the day. Terril says there'll be no prizes for guessing who might most need to rest from the saddle-soreness. It has been decades since either she or Andrew did any serious horse-riding.

"Our 15-year-old Jack Russel Terrier, Snap, is also going to do the trip but I suspect she will be a bit of a truck dolly. We'll get her to walk for an hour or so each day though so she'll also have some stories to tell."

The riders will primarily follow stock routes, from water-hole to water-hole, from Longreach through NSW to Victoria and then the minor roadways to Melbourne and on to Tasmania.

The Long Ride 4 Life team are happy for any offers of support and sponsorship and anyone who would like to make contact or make a donation can find them at www.longride4life.com